Even our absolute favourite gaming headsets fail to go toe-to-toe with an ok quality desktop microphone. Audio Technica's new ATH-M50xSTS StreamSet headset says hell no to that, spend all that money on me instead.

That impressive battery life is, of course, a best-case scenario. A lot of that has to do with the volume you're running the headset at, and volume is probably my only real complaint. It's absolutely loud enough but I can listen to it at full volume and still be fairly comfortable. Though all things considered, I struggle to imagine a customer who wouldn't be happy with these as a wireless gaming headset. They're pricey, but within reason for their specs, and they certainly deliver on everything you could want for gaming, and listening to music, on your PC. Compatibility: PC, Mac, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch | Connectivity: Wired | Drivers: 50mm Neodymium dynamic drivers | Surround sound modes: QuantumSPHERE 360, DTS Headphone X: v2.0 | Weight: 369gConnectivity: The best wireless gaming headsets offer a 2.4GHz dongle that’ll slot into your PC or gaming console, delivering a latency-free connection to ensure you never miss audio cues in a game. Beyond the dongle, you’ll also often get Bluetooth to listen on other devices, and many offer a wired lag-free connection, too. As for wireless headphones, you’re usually just limited to Bluetooth, and there’s always a bit of latency that comes with it, which could make or break you in a gaming setting. However, some higher-end headphones do offer a wired connection to devices, making lag less of an issue, but you’ll be tethered to the device. The 50mm TriForce Titanium drivers are designed with discrete ports to separate bass, mid, tremble tones from interfering with each other. The result is a richer sound than a standard set, and keeps it on par with HyperX's 50mm dual-chamber neodymium driver headset. They're like a tribute to HyperX's own design, and no worse for it.

Compatibility: Xbox Series X/S, PS5/PS4, Nintendo Switch, PC, Mac | Connectivity: wired | Drivers: 50mm Neodymium | Surround sound modes: Dolby Audio 7.1 | Weight: 282g The larger the driver, the more air they can move to not only to make louder sounds, but it also allows them to produce a wider, more nuanced range of frequencies—which happens to take us to our next specification. Equalizer APO with the HeSuVi plugin (free): This free and open-source tool aims to imitate the surround effect of Dolby, DTS, Sonic, Razer, CMSS-3D, and plenty of other implementations. It can, however, be a bit complex to set up, depending on your hardware. Next Xbox appears to have notch better hardware than PS5, but PS5's audio side pretty much makes me wish that it would get market control. Microsoft's adoption of spatial codecs is linked to their Xbox One. It is over simplification but both current consoles seem to utilise a small part of their Jaguar CPU (Sony's Mark Cerny during the PS5 unveiling talked about currently having half a Jaguar CPU core or less for their current 3D audio solution, itself less power than they had for audio with the PS3's cell processor - something Digital Foundry mentioned). Microsoft's 3D spatial solutions (Sonic/Atmos) are limited to a small number of 32 objects due to CPU limits. The approaches have been different though; Sony's hardware only 3D audio Platinum Wireless Headset for Days Gone, Horizon ZD or Uncharted 4. With Microsoft selling licenses for third-party technology beyond their own free solution; Dolby Atmos/DTS. All seem to produce similarly impressive results but the number of games supported has generation has been dire.

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Freely positional "audio objects" including sound formats like Dolby Atmos or DTS:X would definitely help to current state. In 2017, Microsoft introduced a new feature to Windows called Spatial Sound, which allows different programs to directly interface with the audio stream in Windows and add virtual surround sound for headphones. Some programs and games are designed specifically to work with Spatial Sound. They are software solutions. Added to other current solutions like Wave NX or Razer's software surround.

You need a good headset (or gaming headphones, if you prefer) for online gaming. Without one, you won't have a reliable way to trash-talk the competition or coordinate strategies with your team or guild. Surprisingly, gaming headsets are good tools for your home office, too. Anyway some, like me, had one copy of the game on console and one on the PC. And the audio on the PC was horrific when compared console to say the least. That sparked a huge thread over there and Dice's Audio Department decided to chime in and explain the process. More or less it was there that I learned that gaming developers didn't want to license Creative Labs for audio. They found a way to use a 4 core 8 thread CPU to do audio (I think using no more then 2-4 threads total) and get a "similar" experience, limited to 16 bit only, referring it as software audio vs hardware audio using the sound card. Needless to say that ended well, LOL. This is going on memory though. Why settle for just one type of surround sound? The JBL Quantum One may be pricey, but it has a lot to offer in the sound department, including JBL's QuantumSPHERE 360 technology as well as DTS Headphone X: v2.0 surround sound. The latter is a high-quality digital surround sound that can make your game worlds and movies feel that much more engrossing. QuantumSPHERE 360 is a bit more involved, and actually takes into account the position of your head, so you can turn your head in the real life and all the sounds around you will shift to maintain their relative position. The DT 900 Pro X is almost surgical in precision, allowing me to hear layers of bass that hits just right. The Razer Barracuda X isn't the fanciest or most luxurious-feeling gaming headset, but it's one of the most inexpensive and flexible in terms of delivering high-quality audio. The 2022 model uses a nearly identical USB-C transmitter to its predecessor that lets it work with any PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4/5, or Android phone with a USB-C port (Xbox isn't supported), and has the same 3.5mm wireless connectivity. Razer added a big feature to this version, though: Bluetooth connectivity. You can pair it with your phone (or Nintendo Switch, since Nintendo added Bluetooth audio) and listen to music without the transmitter, making it work as a standalone pair of wireless headphones.Compatibility: PS5, Switch, PC, Mac, Mobile | Interface: 2.4GHz wireless, Bluetooth 5.3 | Drivers: 10mm | Surround sound modes: THX | Battery life: 6.5 hours, 30 hours (in case) | Weight: 6g (per earbud) Now while surround sound on a headset is cool, it's not exactly the same as having a real multi-speaker system, like some of the best soundbars offer. In fact, the majority of gaming headsets employ virtual surround sound—which is to say they're faking it with mathematical algorithms.

If problem was flaws in DirectSound, like Microsoft's stinky excuse claims, then why didn't Microsoft dictate new better HW sound processing API for Windows? If you're in the know, you already know that Sennheiser has spun off its gaming products to its own brand, EPOS. So while the name is new, the expertise in crafting truly superb gaming headsets is absolutely not new. This gaming headset is absolutely strapped, coming with the same drivers as the award-winning PC37X, but tuned to be easier to drive without a seperate amplifier or DAC, with a reduced impedence of 28 ohms. Not to complicate things, but I've also noticed that in the Windows Store there is now a DTS Sound Unbound app for Windows 10 that seems to do something similar to Dolby Atmos for Headphones (with the same game list). This gaming headsetis old school cool. There aren't any real drivers to worry about, and certainly no blaring gamer software to have to not only install but also navigate. These are plug and play in the truest of sense just immediately working with whatever I plug them into flawlessly. Due to working with PCs and what not, I'm reviewing the USB model which has a fixed USB Type-A cable and comes with a USB Type-C adapter in the box and has absolutely no issues. For people much cooler than me there's even an incredibly uncommon analog XLR option, which feels like it goes further to show off audio reverence in these devices. The very same qualities that make the Beyerdynamic DT 900 Pro X perfect for long hours of critical listening, mixing, and mastering of audio are perfect when gaming. And you get everything needed in a set of headphones for gaming. Let’s start with the build and comfort. These are extremely well-built headphones with a level of comfort that is hard to beat.

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Compatibility: PC/Mac, PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch, Mobile | Connectivity: 2.4 GHz wireless, Bluetooth, wired | Drivers: 40mm Neodymium | Surround sound modes: 360° Spatial Audio, 3D Audio, Microsoft Spatial Sound, Dolby Atmos | Battery Life: 18-22 hours (per battery) | Weight: 338g This is a 3.5mm wired headset, however, so just bear in mind that both the microphone and audio quality could be adversely affected by your motherboard's DAC/amp or whatever sound card/external device you plug it into. It shouldn't make a huge difference nowadays, even the cheapest motherboards have relatively decent audio, but worth sparing a thought for your holistic audio setup.